Qatar to invest $18bn in Egypt over next 5 years

Qatar will inject $18 billion worth of investments into Egypt over the course of the coming five years, Hamad Bin Jassim Al Thani , the oil-rich gulf state's foreign minister, said at a press conference in Cairo on Thursday, Al Ahram reports.

Of the pledged investment, some $8 billion will be allocated to electricity and natural gas projects in areas east of the Suez Canal, where Egypt has longstanding plans to build a massive industrial city. Another $10 billion will go to a planned tourist resort on Egypt's north coast.Earllier Sheikh Jassim met with President Mohamed Morsi.
 
In early August, Qatar pledged to deposit $2 billion in the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) as a means of easing the country's balance-of-payments deficit. The promise was made following a visit by the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, to Egypt, where he met with Morsi.Later in August, Qatar deposited the first tranche , worth $500 million in the CBE.

Qatar has invested widely worldwide and recently in Tunisia which also has an islamist government.